One method of machining grooves or other features into a workpiece is to use a rotating fly-cutting head to bring a cutting element into contact with the workpiece. The head and the workpiece can be moved relative to each other, which enables the cutting element to cut a long groove into the workpiece, for example. If the workpiece is a cylindrical roll, a fly-cutting head can cut a groove down the length of the outer surface of the roll, the roll can be indexed by a distance equal to the spacing or pitch between grooves, and then another groove can be cut down the length of the roll adjacent to the first groove. In this manner, an entire roll can be provided with longitudinal grooves to form a microreplication tool, which can in turn be useful for forming polymeric sheeting of the type used in displays, or as retroreflective sheeting, for example.
The invention relates to improvements in fly-cutting systems and methods for machining workpieces.